Athens, 07/05/2014 (Agence Europe) -Secretary General of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) Koji Sekimizu has sounded the alarm over failures to apply agreements adopted by his members.
On Wednesday 7 May, at a working lunch during the informal Transport Council organised by the Greek Presidency of the Council of the EU, Sekimizu warned European ministers responsible for maritime transport about failures in this area.
He said that international maritime conventions focused as much on social rights as on safety and the environment and indicated that “implementation is important but we have a number of important conventions which have not yet entered into force”. He informed ministers of the situation but said that he was reassured by the response he had received from them.
European Commissioner for Transport Siim Kallas concurred and asserted that shipping should be subject to international regulation and required more joint effort if efforts in this area were to be effective. Sekimizu stressed that, although the IMO was a technical body, it “needed political support”. He added that “we need leadership to come from maritime nations and the EU is a great maritime nation group”
The request appears to have been fully taken into account by European ministers because in the Athens declaration adopted at the end of the informal meeting (see other article), they recognise the importance of ratifying and applying international conventions, particularly those on the training of seafarers and their working conditions. They also point out that implementation is the responsibility of member states. In this declaration, they reaffirm their commitment to working within the IMO in order to “establish fair competition and working conditions in maritime transport”. (MD)